By-product
Martin Pawley discusses excess and consumerism in his writings on garbage housing in the 1970s. Pawley’s main goal was to raise awareness of consumerism and its negative consequences on the environment and society. He begins by alluding to the American home, annually increasing in average square-footage, as a container for a variety of things and appliances. The packaging and shipping of these appliances is often disposed of upon delivery. This diminishes our efforts towards establishing a sustainable society because the packaging and other materials are considered a non-desirable outcome based on the necessity of shipping it must therefore be discarded. Pawley suggests that this is also a common feeling toward public housing, which has for years been portrayed as the alternative and less honorable lifestyle for Americans. The depiction of public housing as a by-product rather than a solution to the homeless issue of the United States is failing to solve the issue, as many individuals remain without a shelter, yet the usage of building and packaging materials is at its highest in history. Martin Pawley discusses the possibility of developing packaging with dual uses, which span beyond the protection and containment of its contents. He stresses that advertisements must depict the multitude of uses in order to rethink of the packaging as more than just the necessary derivative of its contents. Consumers can reprioritize the usage of packaging and so its final function may exist in a number as possibilities, which will turn packaging from an abject of obsolescence into an object with purpose.